BACKGROUND Using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) to provide advanced life support in adult trauma patients remains a controversial issue now. The study was aimed at identifying the independent predictors of hospital mortality in adult trauma patients receiving ECMO for advanced cardiopulmonary dysfunctions. METHODS This retrospective study enrolled 36 adult trauma patients receivin...

INTRODUCTION There are many potential influencing factors that affect the duration of intensive care treatment for patients who have survived multiple trauma. Yet the respective factors' relevance to ICU length of stay (LOS) has been rarely studied. Thus, the aim of the present study was to investigate to what extent specific factors influence ICU LOS in surviving trauma patients. METHODS We ...

BACKGROUND Uncertainty persists regarding the optimal ventilatory strategy in trauma patients developing acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). This work aims to assess the effects of two mechanical ventilation strategies with high positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) in experimental ARDS following blunt chest trauma. METHODS Twenty-six juvenile pigs were anesthetized, tracheotomized ...

BACKGROUND Particulate air pollution episodes have been associated with increased daily death. However, there is little direct evidence that diminished particulate air pollution concentrations would lead to reductions in death rates. We assessed the effect of air pollution controls--ie, the ban on coal sales--on particulate air pollution and death rates in Dublin. METHODS Concentrations of ai...

BACKGROUND Respiratory therapist (RT) driven protocols decrease ventilator days and resource utilization in the intensive care unit (ICU). Protocols have been studied in non-ICU settings, but their effect on mortality has been incompletely studied. METHODS In our neurosurgery step-down, trauma/surgery step-down, and trauma/surgery general units we initiated an RT-driven evaluate-and-treat pro...

oxygen is an essential part of the most important metabolic pathways in aerobic organisms. oxygen delivery is merely dependent on blood, rendering blood loss a devastating event. traumatic pre-hospital liver bleeding is a major cause of early trauma deaths in human and animals, with no established therapeutic method yet. increasing intra-abdominal pressure (iap) has been shown to reduce liver b...

SUMMARY The Simulated Trauma and Resuscitation Team Training (S.T.A.R.T.T.) course is a unique multidisciplinary trauma team training course deliberately designed to address the common crisis resource management (CRM) skills of trauma team members. Moreover, the curriculum has been updated to also target the specific learning needs of individual participating professionals: physicians, nurses a...

We present a case of sigmoid colon injury after blunt abdominal trauma. The patient was submitted to sigmoid resection with primary end-to-end colo-colic anastomosis. He died 22 days after operation with septic shock and acute respiratory failure. Post-mortem examination showed left lung generalized pneumonia with no signs of intra-abdominal pathology; colo-colic anastomosis was intact. We revi...

Traumatic chylothorax other than iatrogenic thoracic duct injury is extremely rare in children. Chylothorax can cause cardiopulmonary abnormalities and significant nutritional, metabolic and immunologic consequences. The management of chylothorax ranges from conservative treatment to surgical intervention. We present a four-year-old boy who presented with respiratory difficulty due to multiple ...

BACKGROUND Occult pneumothoraces (OPTXs) are seen on abdominal computed tomographic (CT) scans but not on routine chest x-ray films. Optimal treatment for blunt trauma OPTXs has not been defined. We hypothesized that OPTXs could be safely observed without need for a chest tube (CT). METHODS A prospective trial randomized blunt trauma patients with OPTXs to CT scan or observation. Patients wer...